


The Prince and His Knight - Part 3

by KinFletcher



Series: MMX Royal AU [3]
Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X
Genre: Flashbacks, M/M, Major Character Injury, Memory Loss, Violence, let's play "spot the reference", little bit of fluff to start off with, the author is really mean to Zero
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-05
Updated: 2016-05-07
Packaged: 2018-06-06 13:55:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6756901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KinFletcher/pseuds/KinFletcher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the advice of a sergeant who escaped from Sigma's ranks, Zero decides to visit Wily's wasted castle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Happy Birthday

            It was Zero’s birthday—or, at least what X had dubbed his birthday; the third anniversary of the day Zero had been rescued from the battlefield and brought to Abel. On this day, X had woken the lieutenant and thrown his curtains open, letting light spill into the room. He sat on the side of Zero’s bed as Zero sat up and stretched.

            “Happy third birthday,” the prince joked, picking up one of Zero’s pillows and hugging it. Zero punched his arm lightly and then yawned before receiving a mouthful of pillow, swung by X.

            “What would you like to do with your day off?” X asked, giggling. Zero held the pillow and looked at him. X laughed, but his face was so much more tired than the day Zero had first laid eyes on the prince three years ago.

            “First things first, I have to water my roses,” said Zero in a fake stern tone that he hoped would cheer the prince up. He stood up, putting his hand over his heart. “I am simply too sentimental to let them die, not my first gift from Abel’s glorious prince.”

            X fell back on his bed and threw another pillow at him, missing. “You _are_ sentimental, however much you pretend not to be,” he said. Zero shrugged and walked to his window to water the swath of tender pink roses in the flower box hanging there. He plucked a wilting blossom from its stem and crumpled it before walking over and scattering the petals all over the prince. X sat up, laughing and brushing pale pink petals off of his tunic.

            The boy had grown into his face; the fat in his cheeks had been replaced with dimples, his lashes were long and dark, and his jaw and chin framed his lips just so. Whenever he watched X’s mouth too closely, Zero still wanted to kiss him.

            But the years had increased his resilience. He was comfortable in X’s presence despite his feelings, and the two had grown as close as siblings, much to the chagrin of some people in the castle. After Zero had been promoted to lieutenant and Cain had begun pushing X to learn his future duties, however, they saw each other more and more rarely. Zero resigned himself to make the best of this day with his closest friend.

            “We could go on a hunt while it’s still quiet out,” he suggested.

            X frowned. “I don’t like to kill things, and I can’t even use a bow.”

            “I bet you could,” said Zero, folding his arms. “Seems like you can use just about any weapon you pick up these days.”

            X opened his mouth to respond, but there a rap at the door interrupted him.

            Zero knitted his brow. “Who is it?” he called.

            “Lieutenant Signas,” replied a polite but urgent voice. “I’m sorry to interrupt your day off, lieutenant, but the king regent has ordered a war council immediately.

            Zero looked at X, whose face had grown solemn. His heart twisted.

            “Yes, sir,” he called. “I’ll be there right away.”

            X pulled his knees up to his chest as Zero went to his wardrobe and began pulling on his uniform.

            “I’m sorry, X,” said Zero, buckling his belt and sword in place. “It’s still early morning. We’ll have time to do something after the meeting.”

            X looked at him, brows knit. “Promise?”

            Zero walked over and put a hand on his shoulder. “Promise. We can even go into town and walk around the market.”

            X brightened at that. “All right. I’ll go find Double while you’re gone.”

            Zero bit his lip. “Double just got promoted, remember? He’ll be at the meeting too.”

            X pouted. “Fine. I’ll just stay in here and snoop around.”

            Zero chuckled. “You won’t find anything of interest, but as you please, Your Highness.”

           

-

 

            “ _King Regent Cain,_

_With regards to your missive concerning the recent riot and subsequent rebellion in Doppler, I maintain that I am innocent, and I refuse to be taken captive or questioned for crimes I have not committed. It seems that I have too often become the target of suspicion and ridicule. I am also aware that I am not well liked among some of your lieutenants, and I readily admit that I return the sentiment._

_For the refusal to come into custody, I know that I will be considered a criminal, and so I hereby resign my position as captain of your army._

_Beryl._ ”

            There was a heavy silence in the room after Douglas read the last word. Nobody looked at the steward as he folded up the paper carefully and passed it to Cain before leaning back and pushing his spectacles up on the bridge of his nose. Cain did not touch the letter, staring blankly ahead.

            “If I may, Your Grace,” Douglas said quietly, “the courier also brought news that Colonel—Beryl—was seen leaving Doppler toward the southeast with a few troops of soldiers.”

            “Damn it,” said Cain, making one or two people in the room jump. “Why didn’t we hear of this sooner?”

            “The castle’s admittance has been strict since the rebellion in Doppler,” said Douglas. “The courier couldn’t get inside until the morning.”

            Cain put his head in his hands, and Zero bit his lip. With Colonel and a band of soldiers gone, Doppler would be extremely weak, especially after the rebellion which had ravaged residential and urban areas alike. Not only that, but southeast meant that they were headed for Maverick.

            “Sergeant Double,” said Cain slowly, “Do you believe that Sigma will accept or attack Colonel?”

            All eyes turned to Double. The pudgy man adjusted his collar. “With all due respect, Your Grace, I think Sigma will accept anybody into his army. He has a very… commanding way of keeping his soldiers under control.”

            Cain leaned back and the silence resumed. Zero looked at Double. He had to admit that he didn’t care for the newly appointed sergeant. The man struck him as suspicious, but part of Zero knew that he was jealous of Double’s growing friendship with X. Still, escaping from Sigma’s army and turning spy for Abel? It just didn’t seem likely. But Double’s advice had proven useful thus far, and he had earned Cain’s respect, so Zero kept his mouth shut.

            “Your Grace, I recommend that we focus on maintaining order and rebuilding,” said Signas calmly. “There isn’t much we can do about Colonel now except for prepare for any future attacks.

            “Quick-thinking and calm as usual,” said Cain tiredly, looking up at Signas. “I do believe, as we’ve lost our previous captain, that I would like to assign the role to you. I expect you to work with Douglas today to commission the reconstruction in Doppler.”

            Signas bowed his head humbly. “Thank you, Your Grace. I will do everything I can to ensure Abel’s safety.”

            After the meeting was adjourned, Double caught up to Zero as he crossed the mezzanine over the castle’s sanctuary.

            “Lieutenant Zero, X told me that it’s your birthday. So… um, happy birthday!” He smiled blithely. Zero returned a taut smile and continued walking. Double followed along.

            “I wish that there was something more we could do about this whole thing,” he said, lowering his voice. “Listen, lieutenant…” He put a hand on Zero’s arm. Zero jerked back in an automatic response, but looked at him. Double giggled nervously. “There was something I thought… maybe you could do to help. I didn’t want to bring it up during the meeting.”

            Zero folded his arms and cocked an eyebrow to show that he was listening.

            “Well…” Double’s voice became even quieter and he sobered. “Remember how you used to be the captain of Wily’s army?”

            “No,” responded Zero flatly.

            “Right, right, well, I mean, you know you used to be, and… Sigma was always frustrated because he knew that a bunch of your lieutenants got away from that battle, the big one three years go. And, well, he hasn’t expanded Maverick over the mountains to Wily’s old castle because the whole place was gutted after the battles. So I thought, maybe some of your old soldiers are hiding in that castle and thereabouts. Maybe they’d help us out since we’re all against Sigma.”

            Zero stared at him. Double adjusted his collar. “It wouldn’t hurt to check, anyway,” he said, shrugging. “You don’t have to go all the way out there, of course. I just thought that I’d tell you, after all, you deserve to know.”

            He wandered off, leaving Zero to look down at the statue of King Light and wonder if it was time to return to his roots.


	2. Wily's Castle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been super stoked to show this chapter to everyone. I hope you all enjoy it! <3

            Zero looked at the underside of his four-poster bed’s canopy, reflecting on the day. As promised, he and X had gone down into Abel’s marketplace, where X had talked happily with the various vendors, admiring their wares and buying enough to fill a large basket (which, Zero noted with some amusement, he had also bought from a vendor). The townspeople watched Zero, however, with cold or afraid eyes. Zero had ignored them and focused on X; the prince was vulnerable, after all, and it was Zero’s duty to protect him while they were outside the castle.

            They had made their way back to the castle as the sun sank in the sky and the horizon exploded with vermilion and lilac. X kept on chattering, and his soft, silvery voice soothed Zero’s preoccupied mind. Weren’t those tarts delicious, he said, and the woman was so nice, did you see that she had twins? And wouldn’t it be nice to see the garden of the man selling flowers, you’ll help me remember what he said about tulip bulbs, won’t you?

            Zero couldn’t help admiring the way X got along so well with seemingly every person he met, even strangers, townspeople. He was too trusting, Zero thought… But then again, nobody had done him any harm that day. They had walked round and round the marketplace and even through the residential areas (“to look at the houses and gardens,” X had said), and yet in the end neither of them had even been pickpocketed. Zero thought again of Double. What if he was telling the truth after all? Not everyone was out to hurt X. Maybe not everyone was out to hurt Zero, either. And if all worked out as Double predicted, the country as a whole would be safer.

            As they’d walked, Zero nodded along, lost in thought but happy that the prince, at least, seemed more cheerful than he had been of late.

            X stopped when they reached Zero’s quarters, just around the corner and across the mezzanine from the prince’s own tower. As soon as he met X’s eyes, Zero knew immediately what was coming.

            “Is everything okay?”

            Zero looked at his hand, already resting on the door handle. He wanted nothing more than to just step inside, shut the world out, and be alone with his thoughts for a while. He managed a little smile.

            “I’m just tired, that’s all,” he said.

            “You’re never tired,” said X suspiciously. “Well, actually you are, quite a lot, but you don’t ever let on that you are.”

            Zero narrowed his eyes. He could never decide if he hated or loved the way the prince saw right through him.

            “Look, X… It’s a military thing. You wouldn’t really understand.”

            X frowned. “What’s going on? Is it about the whole situation in Doppler?”

            “Something like that, yeah,” Zero replied.

            “Well… Signas will be overseeing it now, I heard, so I’m sure it’ll be all right.” X hovered for a moment longer. “I had a great day today,” he said, smiling a very forced smile. “Happy birthday.”

            “Thanks, X,” said Zero guiltily. As he watched the prince round the corner, however, he realized with a sudden pang that he might never see his closest friend again.

            Chest tightening, he shoved the thought away, focusing on gathering everything he would need for the journey to Wily’s castle.

 

-

 

            Zero hitched his bag up on his shoulder and walked around to the stables, where he quietly hoisted satchel and reigns onto his horse, untied her, and led her out to the streets.

            “All right, Treble,” he said softly, placing his foot in a stirrup and heaving himself up onto the horse’s back, maneuvering her to avoid the patrolling guards. “Let’s go.”

 

-

 

            After the night had passed and dawn was beginning to creep up on the horizon, Zero’s exhaustion was replaced with nerves. They had already reached the outer villages in Abel. He pulled his map out and guided Treble carefully on the roads until the roads turned to faint trails, and then the faint trails turned to faded dirt footpaths. By evening they had crossed into the stretch of uninhabitable no man’s land that separated Abel from Maverick. Zero would have pressed on, but Treble planted her hooves and refused, and he was forced to make camp for the night.

            They went on like that for three more days, Zero checking landmarks on his map and keeping a wary eye out for scouts or travelers, but not one crossed their path. It seemed like the whole world grew darker and lonelier as they crossed a tiny river and Zero saw Wily’s castle, a tiny dot in the distance. He took deep breaths and ducked down low on Treble, ready to unsheathe his sword, but as they drew up to the town, they were met only with total stillness.

            Treble’s hooves met overgrown cobblestone with soft clacking sounds. The sky was dim and misty. Zero watched the passing houses with bated breath, still half expecting an ambush, but it was obvious that no-one had been here in years. The roofs of buildings were smashed in, doors hanging on rusty hinges or completely missing. Wooden homes were now piles of ash with charred support beams still standing here and there. The whole place smelled cold and rotten, and though it had been three years since he had spent time among the deceased, Zero recognized the taste of death in his mouth. He shuddered.

            As they approached the castle, still no signs of life appeared. Not even rats wandered the streets. Something about all of it made Zero’s skin crawl.

            The drawbridge of the castle wall was up, but it was splintered all over, and one of the chains holding it in place had snapped, so half of it hung over what Zero assumed was once a moat. Now it was simply mud with murky water seeping through it. Zero didn’t dare try to pass over the broken bridge on Treble, so he dismounted and tied her to the rusted base of a sentry tower. Her eyes bulged and she nickered in fear. He tried to comfort her, but in the end had to simply leave her there. He knew that X would have tried to talk to the mare and tell her everything was all right, that he would be back soon, but he wasn’t X, and after all, he wasn’t sure that he _would_ be back.

            Zero treaded carefully on the sodden wood of the drawbridge, but it held under his feet. He stayed in the shadows of walls and strange statues in the courtyard; hulking figures in all sorts of fantastic armor, each wielding weapons of a sort Zero had never seen. Something about them was frustratingly familiar. A slight wind whistled in the battlements, setting Zero’s heart pumping. His fingers, curled around the hilt of his sword, were beginning to go numb.

            Finally he reached the entrance to the castle itself. One of the massive double doors had been battered in. Zero stepped carefully through the gap and found himself in a grand hall that made his head spin.

            He looked wildly around; every sight he took in was new, but he _knew_ it, somehow, some part of it was utterly familiar, and the sensation scared him more than the haunting town ever could. It took several minutes before he could move one step, but when he did, his feet carried him naturally up the steps in front of him. A huge painting hung at the top, partially burned but still showing the bust of a man in glittering white robes and a rose gold crown set with gemstones that might have been rubies. Zero tried not to look at the portrait. Deep down he knew that it was Wily; who else would it be? He did not want to look at the man who was his father, didn’t want to recognize him.

            He wandered the castle halls, gradually growing less afraid of an ambush, but his nerves never settled. He could hardly remember why he had come here. Every wall, every piece of furniture, every decoration was indescribable. The memories of them hung in his mind like a word on the tip of the tongue; just out of reach, and Zero wasn’t sure he wanted to remember.

            Dead bodies dotted the castle, piled in heaps here and there. Most of them were merely skeletons covered with rusted armor by now.

            He found himself at the base of a tower. He climbed a few stairs and looked out the shattered window. The landscape was bare and dark. Zero swallowed hard. He had a feeling where he is subconscious had brought him. He took one deep breath and hurried up the stairs, then pushed open a door he instantly knew he had touched thousands of times.

            A massive blue gauntlet swung directly at his face.

            Zero ducked just in time, tugging his sword from his sheath, a rush of adrenaline nearly blinding him. A massive man clad in golden armor and wielding heavy gauntlets with punching daggers stood before him. Zero held his sword up, looking for an opening to the weak spot at the man’s side, before the warrior’s stance suddenly changed.

            “Captain Zero?” rumbled the man, in a tone of utter disbelief.

            Zero kept his sword up, eyeing him warily. “Who are you?” he asked. “How do you know me?”

            “It’s me, sir,” said the man, straightening his posture. “General, sir. Your leading officer.”

            Zero frowned. “Why are you here?”

            “I… we… Some of us survived the battle with Sigma, sir. We patrol here every so often but stay mostly to the mountains. We thought you were dead, sir.”

            _The battle with Sigma…_ Zero suddenly remembered his original reason for coming here, and mentally berated himself, but then rejoiced. Double had been right. He made a note to thank the rookie soldier when he returned to Cain.

            “Are you battle-ready?” he asked General, slowly lowering his sword.

            “Yes, sir.”

            “I need you to take the others and… and go to Abel,” said Zero, in the most authoritative tone he could muster.

            Zero could barely see the man’s face under his massive helmet, but he still saw the surprise in his eyes. “Abel, sir? There aren’t that many of us, we couldn’t—”

            “I mean to defend it,” said Zero. “Abel is against Sigma. They may be our only chance to defeat him.” He looked around briefly. “Perhaps… Perhaps if Sigma was defeated we could rebuild this place.” _Never_ , the part of him that loved X said.

            General was silent for a moment. “I see, sir. Right away, sir.”

            He hesitated, as though waiting for Zero to lead him, but Zero stepped out of the doorway. “I’d like to stay here for a while, if you don’t mind. You and the other soldiers go on ahead and I’ll meet up with you later. Tell Prince X that I sent you as a… a return birthday present. He’ll know to trust you then.”

            Looking baffled but pleased, General nodded, saluted, and then left. Zero looked at the stairs for a long time before turning back to the room.

            It was the room of a killer.

            A rack of weapons was hung on the wall opposite him, now rusted. Sharpening tools rested in a tray on the floor below them. Books, still in neat order, lined a wall in black wrought iron shelves. On either side of the shelves were mounted helmets—war trophies. A chandelier lay shattered on the floor. The rug was burned through around it. He walked over to the bed.

            _How many times have I slept in this same bed?_ he wondered, putting a hand on its red coverlet. He pictured himself lying there in black clothing and a smug smile, ordering a servant about and looking at his reflection in a dagger. The thought disgusted him, but his gut told him it could have been real.

            Zero hurried out of the room, shutting the door tight and closing his eyes, trying to forget everything he’d seen. He walked slowly back down the stairs, dazed, and eventually found himself standing still, staring at a pile of corpses.

            _My soldiers_ , he thought. _They died trying to protect me_.

            He shook himself. His head was starting to hurt. He wanted to leave, now, but the labyrinth of a castle seemed to suck him in. He walked faster and faster. His hands started to tremble as he turned corner after corner, fighting the memories which now pried their fingers into his mind. He knew this place. This was his home.

            _Abel is my home_ , said the little voice, and the memories laughed, rattling his whole body.

            He found a set of double doors and pried them open. _Father’s chambers_ , said the memories. Zero held his head and breathed, in and out, in and out, focusing on the dust that floated up around his feet, until his mind quieted again. Sighing, he stepped inside.

            Wily’s solar was wrecked. Tables and chairs lay on their sides or in splinters. Glasses and serving plates were shattered on the carpet. Zero stepped carefully over these and through an empty door frame; the door which had once stood there was now flat on the ground inside the room, handle wrenched out.

            Broken tables covered in dusty paper and spilled ink surrounded this room. Wily’s bed sat crumpled against one wall, two legs missing. It had been less decadent than Zero’s own. The bed stand was seemingly the only thing that still stood upright. Zero approached it. Two portrait frames lay face down on the top. He hesitated before turning over the first one. The little painting was of a man he didn’t recognize; a soldier, wearing gray and black armor and a helmet with a brilliant plume of golden feathers. A single blue crest in a shape like a diamond decorated the center of the helmet’s visor.

            _Don’t look at the other one_ , he told himself, but as soon as he set down the first one his hands seemed to reach for the other of their own accord.

            It was a portrait of Zero.

            He couldn’t have been more than fourteen. He was wearing a heavily embroidered black and white tunic and decadent scarlet armor. Something about his expression horrified Zero. _His_ smile. _His_ eyes. The memories came roaring in. Suddenly he wasn’t standing in the quiet room; he was standing on the battlefield, hacking his way through soldiers who ran at him. He was standing in a war council, all eyes on him as he drew out attack plans. He was standing over a family cowering in their burning home. The maniacal laughter of his nightmares echoed as he butchered them all, and Zero realized that the laughter was his own.

            Zero threw the portrait as hard as he could at the wall. The frame burst into splinters and the little canvas cracked. Staggering, he clutched his sword and ran out of the chambers. He ran away from the memories, but they came seething after him, battering at his mind, frothing, and he realized that he was crying as he ran.

            Finally he came out on the grand staircase. He swung his sword wildly at the portrait of Wily. The canvas tore straight through and his sword rebounded off the stone wall. Shoulders stinging, Zero could barely keep himself on two feet to make it down the stairs, out the door, and across the courtyard. He halted at the drawbridge, trying to wipe his tears away so that he could focus and keep his balance.

            That was when he saw Treble lying dead in the moat, mud splattered on her silvery coat, mixing with her blood.

            Strong hands seized him from behind, locking his arms at his waist where he couldn’t use his weapon.

            “Poor Zero,” said a voice in his ear. “Do you miss your daddy?”

            Zero tried to kick Colonel in the knee, but the man laughed and slung a thick leather cord around him, tying his wrists tight together. He shoved him between the shoulders. “Walk,” he commanded.

            Zero dug his heels into the bridge, eyes still fixed on Treble. Wind stung his teary eyes.

            “Walk,” said another voice, this one deeper. It sent a shiver down Zero’s legs. He looked up to find its source. Another man leaned against the sentry tower across the bridge, where Treble had been tied. A man Zero recognized him from paintings and his own vague memories.

            Sigma.


	3. For Me

            Zero had been too stunned to struggle as Sigma and Colonel guided him around the castle until they reached the stables. The structure was moldering but still standing, and as Zero saw two horses inside, his heart twisted as he thought of Treble. Hope faded and his throat tightened; it was him against Colonel and Sigma, he was tied up, weapon taken, and he had no horse to escape with. He closed his eyes as Colonel strapped him to one of the support pillars of the stable, laughing. He thought of X. At least he would die knowing that the prince had soldiers on the way to help his city. He wished vaguely that he had asked General to stay with him; at least then he might have had a fighting chance.

            “So.” Sigma leaned against the pillar opposite him. Zero watched him wearily. “Captain Zero, come home at last.”

            Zero said nothing. Sigma walked forward and seized his chin. “You’re a fool,” he said. “They said you were so cunning, but you’re as stupid as your precious prince. Colonel says you’re ever so fond of him.”

            Zero’s chest flared at the mention of X.

            “Double sent you here to us,” said Sigma. His words were like a slap in the face. “With Signas away in Doppler, the soldiers you just sent to Abel— _my_ soldiers—will tear the castle down.”

            Zero stared at him. As the words slowly sunk in, all-consuming rage both at himself and at Sigma burned in his throat. He clenched his fists. Sigma laughed and twisted Zero’s head, shoving against the pillar, before letting go.

            “You’re going to pay for killing Kaiser and spoiling my last plot,” he said, turning away. Zero’s mouth was bleeding where his teeth had cut into his cheek with the force of the slap. “Oh, and all the other soldiers, too. I do believe Colonel has his own score to settle with you.”

            Colonel grinned. Zero glared at him. Despite everything, he remembered no specific person, not even Wily, not even Iris. He just remembered the bloodlust and the killing. He said nothing.

            “I will, however, offer you one chance to save yourself,” said Sigma. His deep voice still set Zero’s skin crawling. “You could become one of my captains. You would have everything your heart desires; all the food to eat, all the soldiers to kill… I’d even let you have your way with Prince X before I execute him.”

            Zero spat blood on the ground and snarled at him. “You bastard,” he hissed. Anger licked at his stomach with tongues of fire. Sigma and Colonel both laughed.

            “You really care about that mewling kit, don’t you?” said Sigma. “It’s too bad we don’t have him here. You could watch us cut him up, bit by bit, until he bleeds to death. You’d like that, wouldn’t you, Zero? You always loved blood.”

            Zero screamed in fury. His vision went red and his mind turned in an instant to nothing but howling, scorching rage.

            “That’s right, that’s right,” shouted Sigma. “That’s the Zero I know.”

            “ _I’ll kill you!”_ he shouted, fighting against his bonds. His hands were growing swollen where they were tied, and his stomach hurt as he jolted against the straps wrapped around his torso. They hadn’t bothered to tie his legs, but his kicks were useless. The rage and hatred only grew until he felt like he would burst.

            Colonel and Sigma laughed and laughed, but Zero could barely hear it over his own screaming. The pole he was tied to was beginning to crack, but the other two didn’t seem to notice, and it took Zero some time to realize that they were focused on something that Sigma was pulling from one the packs slug on his horse.

            A barbed whip.

            Some small part of him sparked with fear, but Zero didn’t even care, body coursing with rage. As Sigma smiled and the whip cracked across his chest, he barely felt it. He welcomed the pain; it fueled his wrath. He kept struggling, tugging on the rotting pole, but it refused, and the lashes kept coming, and the laughter rang in his ears; Colonel’s, Sigmas, and his own.

            The rhythm of the whip suddenly stopped. Zero shuddered as he was shaken out of the dark place in his mind he had retreated to. He looked up to see a blade sticking through Colonel’s throat.

            The huge man fell to the ground, and the figure holding the blade staggered to keep it in his hand.

            X.

            All of the anger drained from Zero’s body in one sweep of icy terror. Sigma cast a glance his way as X planted his feet, holding the sword up. His face was set like Zero had never seen it before; serious, determined, even furious.

            The little part of Zero clung to X’s eyes, watched the leaf-green with desperation, like holding onto a cliff above the pool of his ancient bloodlust.

            “Perhaps we’ll get the chance to cut him up after all,” said Sigma coldly, tossing aside the whip and drawing a massive longsword from his belt. He dashed at X, and Zero screamed. He swore, planting his feet in the muddy earth of the stable, and strained forward, pleading his muscles to work harder. The pillar groaned and cracked but didn’t move. He sweat and swore and screamed harder, blind to the battle happening not ten paces from him, pulling with all his might. He shut his eyes, took a deep breath, and placed one foot on the pole, pushing, until finally the groaning turned to splintering and the roof of the stable came crumbling down over him.

            Blood ran into his eyes and he shook his head, looking wildly for X and Sigma. The prince had taken up Colonel’s shield and was desperately defending himself from blows delivered by the huge man. They both staggered back from the crumbled part of the stable, and in that moment Zero charged at Sigma, lowering his torso and ramming the huge man like a jousting lance, knocking the huge man hard in the head with the pole. Zero heard himself let out a cry of pain as the pole drove splinters into his back with the force of the blow, but he forced himself to look up again. He had to fight. He had to keep X safe.

            Sigma was lying on the ground, head bleeding, jaw broken, unmoving.

            Relief swept through Zero, followed immediately by pain as all of his wounds suddenly clamored for his attention. He fainted.

 

-

 

            The pain woke him again eventually, accompanied by the little murmurs of a familiar voice.

            “Please, Zero, please, don’t leave, don’t die right now, come on…”

            Zero opened his eyes and the darkness blinded him. His head ached, his back ached, his whole front stung, his hands refused to move.

            But as the prince gathered him up in his arms and cried for joy that he was awake, Zero felt happy for a moment. He was finally unbound; X must have untied the straps on his wrists and waist and released him from the pillar.

            “Come on, we have to get out of here,” said X. “You take Sigma’s horse and we’ll get back to Abel. You wouldn’t believe it Zero, Double was a traitor after all, he tried to kill me…”

            Zero didn’t even have the strength to shake his head.

            “I can’t go,” he said. His voice sounded pitifully broken even to him. “You have to get back… There’s a group of Sigma’s soldiers… headed for Abel… and it’s all my fault.”

            He coughed, and the effort of it made his whole body hurt.

            X was crying.

            “What? What do you mean? You’ve got to come back with me, don’t be stupid, that’s not like you…”

            Zero’s vision swam, limbs going numb. He realized that his momentary consciousness was slipping, and slipping fast.

            “Take my sword,” he said. “Please… get back as fast as you can and… and warn them. You have to go.”

            “No. No, no, no, no, no.” X slumped over and touched his forehead to Zero’s. “I can’t lose you, not now, not ever, oh my God… Please don’t die, Zero, please…”

            Zero smiled. He was happy to see X’s eyes one last time, if only dimly. All of his injuries had stopped hurting. His body felt warm. “Take my sword,” he said again. “You’ll have it to remind you of me. And those roses, take care of them… won’t you?” His head spun. “Stay alive… for me?”

            X was past the point of words, sobbing uncontrollably, rocking Zero back and forth. But he nodded. Relieved, Zero let go, and the world went dark.

           


End file.
